Thursday, December 12, 2013

Responses: too far or not far enough

THE report of the House
of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality, chaired by Sir Joseph
Pilling, has prompted a wide range of response and criticism.

Among those who welcomed
the report were groups that lobby for greater acceptance of gay and
lesbian people in the Church.

The Revd Benny
Hazlehurst, the secretary of the Accepting Evangelicals group,
issued a statement: "We welcome this clear recognition of diversity
in biblical understanding and commend the report to the whole
Church. We also welcome these small steps towards church services
for same-sex couples."

The chairman of Inclusive
Church, the Very Revd Dianna Gwilliams, said: "We hope that this
will enable all Christians to find ways of celebrating the
covenantal love between people which reflects the love of God for
all people."

Many, however, also
criticised the report for not going far enough. Changing Attitude,
which campaigns for equality of opportunity for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people within the Church, said in
a statement: "The report, far from reassuring us, goes so far out
of its way to balance the needs of conservatives that it reinforces
the lack of welcome for lesbian and gay people. The Church of
England is systemically homophobic."

The Sibyls, a group that
represents transgender people in the Church, also condemned the
report for not addressing its concerns.

The chief executive of
the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, the Revd Sharon Ferguson,
said: "This was a great opportunity for the Church of England to
make some substantial changes to embrace all God's children and I
am sad that it hasn't grasped it fully. Whilst the freedom for
clergy to 'mark' committed same-sex relationships following civil
partnership or marriage registration is a cause for celebration, it
is a shame that a formal liturgy of blessing wasn't included."

The Bishop of Chichester,
Dr Martin Warner, said that the Church must address its perceived
"homophobia" if it wanted to establish a dialogue with LGBT
communities, such as the one in Brighton, in his diocese.

"Let us speak more
clearly to people who do not share the Christian faith,
irrespective of their sexual orientation: 'God loves you very
much,'" he said.

Other groups, however,
condemned the Pilling report, describing it as unhelpful and in
conflict with the Bible. Andrea Williams, chief executive of
Christian Concern, said that the lack of new teaching in the report
was undermined by the proposal that clergy should mark same-sex
relationships. She said that the Church should offer "courageous
leadership" and "speak clearly about marriage as the union of one
man and one woman and the only proper place for sexual
expression".

An official response to
the Pilling report from Anglican Mainstream stated: "The report as
a whole errs towards trying to appease this secular world-view by
saying in effect we should ditch any biblical and supernatural
certainties. The report says that Scripture and theology are
apparently unclear on the rightness of homosexual practice, but we
should go ahead and bless it anyway, as long as the relationships
are 'permanent, faithful, stable'. We are faced with officially
sanctioned apostasy in our own Church."

The chairman of Reform,
Prebendary Rod Thomas, described the report's proposals as "very
divisive and distressing". He said: "True pastoral care in the case
of those experiencing same-sex attraction will be to help them live
Christianly."

The "open Evangelical"
group Fulcrum said in a statement that it was glad that the report
had not recommended any change in the Church's teaching on
homosexuality.

It criticised what it
described as "a willingness to separate teaching and practice", and
the recommendation that the formation of permanent same-sex
relationships could be marked by a church service.

Meanwhile, Sir Paul Coleridge, a senior High Court family judge,
has announced that he is standing down because of opposition to his
traditional understanding of marriage.

A number of complaints were
made to the Judicial Complaints Investigation Office, after Sir
Paul described same-sex marriage as a "minority issue" last
year.